Gallup claims that at least half of the American workforce are “quiet quitters.” These are people who meet the minimum requirements in their jobs just to survive. Quiet quitting is deeper than what some social media users point out—that it simply looks like following the job description.
Workers who aren’t invested in their work negatively impact many aspects of an organization, including output, morale, culture, and profits. Quiet quitters could even bring down other team members and usually lack innovative ideas. Their attitudes could also affect customer satisfaction since they show less concern about people’s opinions of the company.
In this blog, we’ll tell you all about quiet quitting. Learn why people do it and strategies that HR management can do to prevent quitting.
Table of Contents:
Why Do People Do Quiet Quitting?
Low employee engagement at work is usually the reason for an employee quitting quietly. However, several underlying reasons may be causing your employees to feel demotivated. Let’s explore some of the reasons.
Bad Managers
Quiet quitting is often due to bad managers. Researchers at Harvard Business Review found that managers who aren’t good at their jobs have three to four times as many employees who quietly quit. They fail to build healthy relationships with employees, making them feel undervalued. In contrast, effective managers inspire employees, reducing the likelihood of quiet quitting.
Pay
Low pay is a major reason for quiet quitting. Pew Research indicates that increased work hours haven’t been matched with fair compensation. Workers see CEO pay rising dramatically while their pay stagnates. This disparity makes employees feel unmotivated to contribute towards the company’s goals.
No Opportunity for Advancement
The second reason Pew indicates quiet quitting is a lack of advancement opportunities. Workers believe their efforts won’t be recognized with promotions or raises, so they feel trapped in their roles. The lack of inspiration from this passiveness results in disengagement and quiet quitting.
Feeling Disrespected
For 57% of people, quiet resigning at work results from experiencing disrespect at the workplace. Disrespect includes second-guessing actions, micromanaging, or dismissing employee’s input. Employees’ engagement declines, and they are more likely to quietly leave in response when they feel underappreciated by management or peers.
Lack of Purpose and Motivation
16% of quiet quitters feel their work lacks purpose, and 13% lack motivation to grow in their roles, according to BetterUp. Without a clear sense of purpose or opportunities for development, employees feel disengaged and unmotivated, leading to quiet quitting.
Lack of Flexibility or Choice
Lack of flexibility in work schedules can lead to quiet quitting. A CIPD study concluded that lack of flexibility drives four million workers to switch professions. Workers like having the option to choose their hours or work from home. When employers demand full-time office attendance, it disrupts the work-life balance. This lack of choice prompts employees to quiet quit as a form of protest.
Signs of Quiet Quitting
Although silent resignation is not always obvious, an employee may display signs of quiet quitting in their behavior. Look for these indicators:
- Discontent
- Delaying deadlines
- Negativity
- Absence or more PTO consumption
- Not putting in extra effort when other workers are
- Turning off cameras in video meetings
- Pulling out from team building or social events
- Delayed email or instant messaging responses
- Not participating in meetings
13 Strategies for HR Managers to Prevent Quiet Quitting
Disengagement due to quiet quitting adversely impacts your company. However, you can avoid this by taking early measures. Let’s explore some HR best practices to prevent employees from quitting quietly.
Build Rapport and Relationships
The quiet quitting issue begins when employees feel disconnected from their employers. They feel unable to communicate their concerns to managers. Building rapport with employees bridges this gap.
Team members who view their bosses as human beings, not just authority figures, feel a stronger commitment to their jobs. These employees are more likely to express dissatisfaction, enabling leaders to address issues early.
Encouragement of strong social links among management, colleagues, and employees fosters a sense of purpose and helps avoid disappointing others. Gallup advises effective managers to conduct a 15 to 30-minute meaningful conversation with every team member once a week.
Build a Culture of Transparency
When team members can trust one another, it increases their motivation to work together, be creative, and stay committed. Sharing critical information empowers employees, creating a reciprocal trust relationship.
Transparent teams feel safer making decisions and are more likely to innovate and work independently. This culture enables staff members to establish reasonable limits, therefore minimizing burnout and guaranteeing their return to work rested and refreshed.
Well-informed teams can, therefore, easily reach corporate targets since they know how their efforts influence profitability and goals. With transparency, you can promote a cooperative, trusting atmosphere where employees feel valued and empowered. This reduces the likelihood of quiet quitting.
Offer Learning and Development Opportunities
Learning and development opportunities help employees improve skills and find new meaning in their work. Funding conferences, college credits, or online training courses improves performance and personal achievement. Giving these chances reflects an organization’s commitment to employee development.
This increases employee satisfaction and reduces the disappointment that leads to quiet quitting. Those who feel valued at their workplace and see a road for development are more likely to remain engaged and dedicated to their positions. Giving opportunities for continuous learning prevents quiet quitting and promotes a culture of gratitude.
Foster Employee Work-Life Balance
Disengagement happens when employees feel managers don’t care about workloads. Create and enforce policies on downtime, workloads, and mental health to show the company values well-being.
Clear communication about roles and responsibilities ensures employees aren’t given work outside their job scope. Compensate employees for extra work or responsibilities.
The best way to avoid burnout and keep employee engagement high over the long term is to maintain a good work-life balance. Making employee well-being a top priority decreases the chances of employees quietly quitting.
Give Employees Agency
Avoid micromanaging and ensure projects aren’t shut down after significant effort. Employees engaged in meaningful work are more likely to stay committed. Invite them to generate original ideas and help them. Review their job duties to prevent job creep and burnout. Regularly redefine core duties to reflect actual job requirements.
Creating an environment where employees have agency and feel their contributions are valued prevents quiet quitting. Empowering employees to take ownership of their work fosters a sense of purpose and commitment.
Create a Workplace Culture of Open Communication
Open communication is crucial to preventing quiet quitting. Frequent check-ins, anonymous questionnaires, and feedback boards provide employees with a safe environment for sharing concerns.
Employees who feel heard are almost five times more likely to produce their best work, according to Salesforce. So, create a psychologically safe workplace by allowing discussions of uncomfortable topics without fear of rebuke.
Use tools like Slack channels or anonymized polls to address issues. Ensuring employees feel comfortable expressing themselves leads to higher engagement and job satisfaction. Open communication fosters a trusting environment, reducing the risk of quiet quitting.
Properly Compensate Your Team
Pay discrepancies can lead to quiet quitting. They make employees feel the company isn’t rewarding their extra and honest efforts. Ignoring extra efforts or telling employees to “deal with it” breeds resentment. So, if you keep piling on responsibilities without considering their current workloads, your employees will feel devalued. Ensure fair compensation, make their pay competitive with market rates, and reward extraordinary efforts.
However, compensation isn’t just monetary—recognition, perks, benefits, and flexibility also matter. According to Delloite, productivity, performance, and employee engagement are 14% greater in companies that offer recognition than in those without.
When you underpay staff, it weakens the case for ancillary compensation. Fair rewards for effort prevent employees from feeling devalued and reduce the risk of quiet quitting.
Make Stepping Up Optional
Not every employee wants more responsibilities. Career changes should always involve two-way conversations. Gauge your employees’ interest in expanding roles. Learn what they expect because your expectations might differ from their vision.
New roles should benefit employees’ careers equally to reduce managerial burdens. Offer them opportunities, but don’t force leadership roles without proper feedback from your employees. The conversations should also express your belief in employees’ abilities.
Forced roles without titles, influence, or fair compensation can lead to dissatisfaction. Respecting employees’ career ambitions helps maintain motivation and engagement. By making stepping up optional, HR can prevent employees from feeling pressured and reduce quiet quitting in their organization.
Maintain Boundaries
Employees usually quietly quit to set boundaries that companies, unfortunately, fail to set. So, HR can reinforce these boundaries as one of their retention strategies. Emphasize to the leaders and team members in your organization that answering after-hours calls or emails is optional on both ends.
Introduce an on-call system and define urgent after-hours emergencies. You can also reward those who stay late by allowing early leave another day. Make sure you intervene when coworkers pressure each other to overwork. Create a safe way for employees to report such occurrences of overwork.
Moreover, give employees random paid personal days. Advocating for employees’ private time prevents quiet quitting. Vocal support from leaders reduces boundary overstepping. Employees will appreciate the support and avoid the stress of confrontation.
Be Upfront About Role Growth
When you ask your employees to do more than they were initially hired for, it encourages quiet quitting. While jobs evolve, especially in startups, unexpected changes soon after hire can be jarring. Prevent this by discussing role growth during interviews.
Make sure you mention the potential expansion of duties early. Manage your employees’ expectations and find candidates who are comfortable with growth. Give them accurate timelines for these role changes and how they’ll be compensated for them.
Being upfront about role growth prevents feelings of bait-and-switch. Clear communication from the start can help manage expectations because employees prepared for growth are less likely to feel overwhelmed. Transparent role growth discussions also reduce the risk of quiet quitting.
Monitor Mood and Behavior Changes
Watch for sudden drops in productivity or enthusiasm among your employees. Is there an outspoken employee who has gone quiet or a key contributor who is slowly disappearing? Look for the underlying reason for these developments.
While this could be an early sign of quiet quitting, the employee might not be there yet. Maybe the employee just needs a break or is facing a personal issue. Help them sort these issues out. If you don’t address them timely, they could lead to quiet quitting.
So, to prevent quiet quitting, it is crucial to be aware of your employees’ states. Monitor team members acting out of character. Don’t let the issue escalate. Be an understanding and supportive employee who cares for their employees.
Support Employee Well-being
Sometimes quiet quitting can be linked to mental health. So check on your employees for employee retention. See if the workload or any other work-related issue is bothering them. Prioritize their mental, physical, and emotional health by being an ally to them.
Show commitment to their well-being with actions, not just words. Establish the workplace as a safe space where you help your employees be their full selves and tap into their potential. A supportive environment will encourage full engagement and productivity, helping an employee to give up on quiet quitting.
Encourage Breaks and Sustainable Growth
Although workloads may change from time to time, employees need breaks to recharge. Sometimes, they might not even realize that they need a break. However, you can help them realize this by setting policies that encourage employees to take time to recharge and regroup.
A slight dip in productivity isn’t alarming. However, if complacency becomes the norm, it can be a sign of trouble. Sending your employees on regular breaks can resolve this issue and maintain long-term productivity.
Conclusion
Have you ever thought how many quiet quitters could be in your team? Imagine if they all decide to resign at the same time. Considering the big dent that quiet quitting can put on your organization’s well-being, you need to address quiet quitting.
As an HR manager, you can do more than you think to avoid these alarming situations. By implementing these retention strategies in your organization, you can create a positive environment. The benefits of incorporating them would be long-term. So, implement them today and lead a loyal and satisfied workforce.
